By Evan Conklin, Farm Manager

Welcome to Week three of Wellspring's CSA. Yet again it has been a great week for growing vegetables. We have gotten lots of rain and warm temperatures and all of the crops are looking great. We have yet again been doing a lot of weeding but we are making great progress and the vegetables will thank us for all our hard work in a couple of weeks.

I may have exaggerated a little bit when I said all the crops are doing great. The one glaring exception is our strawberries. Strawberries are a perennial crop, meaning they come back year after year. In typical production systems strawberries are left in the ground for 2 or 3 years. Our strawberries have been growing for 5 or 6 years. This has been very beneficial because we don't have to purchase strawberry plants as often and the perennial system improves soil structure and builds organic matter. As a result we have had a bountiful strawberry harvest for years now. The other side of the coin is perennial crops allow for perennial weeds to proliferate as well. In our case these weeds are Canadian thistle, quack grass and red clover. These weeds can be easily controlled in an annual system with regular tillage and hoeing. In perennial beds however, tractor tillage is impossible as it would kill the crop and hoeing is impossible in strawberries because they send out runners over the entire bed leaving no room for accurate hoeing.

All of that is a long way of saying this spring there were a lot of weeds in our strawberries and the only solution was to pull them out by hands. This was a time consuming prospect. Most perennial weeds have an extensive root system, which can be difficult to pull out, and if you don't get the entire root it will grow back very quickly. To make a long story short, we only had enough time to weed one of our strawberry patches and about 2 weeks after we weeded you could not tell we did anything.

The end result of strawberry plants past peak production and being over-run by weeds is we will most likely not have enough strawberries this season to put in the shares. We went through the patch this week and were only able to find 10 pints of mostly small, malformed fruit. I will be ordering new strawberry plants in the near future to plant to ensure a bountiful strawberry harvest next year.

There are, however, plenty of great items in this box, which will hopefully lessen the blow of not having strawberries. I hope you enjoy cooking and eating them as much as we enjoyed growing them.

If you need to contact me please send an email to: farmwellspring@gmail.com

• Pickup at Rising Phoenix Organic Market (replacement for Karen's Energy) will be from 10am-3pm this week. Their official business hours should be starting next week. If you are not sure where to pick up email me at WellspringCSA@gmail.com

• Certified Organic Plants for Sale! If you are planning a garden and need seedlings or want potted plants for your patio/porch we have many for purchase.

$2.50 per single seedling or buy 4 or more for $2 each

$7 per potted plant

We have heirloom tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, kale, broccoli, cabbage, thyme, sage, rosemary, mint, chives and more.

Potted tomatoes, peppers, herb "gardens" and kale.

Interested??- email Nancy at wellspringcsa@gmail.com

• Info on community potlucks is at the bottom of the email in "Events" section. Please consider attending to connect with our community, learn how fellow shareholders are using their produce and have some fun!
• Remaining balances are due NOW.You can pay over the phone or send a check. We cannot go beyond this week with any remaining balances.

Let us know how you enjoyed your share!

Steamed Buttery Garlic Scapes  aka " Garlic Green Beans"

Favorite of Evan Conklin- Wellspring Farm Manager

 

Ingredients:

• Garlic scapes
• Butter or oil
• Salt/ seasonings 

Optional Ingredients:

• Diced Herbs (like marjoram)  
• Parmesan cheese
• Pasta
• Escarole or braising mix

Cut scapes to the size of green beans.  Steam until tender, about 7 minutes. Drain water, toss with butter or oil and season to your liking.

Can eat them just like this or put on top of pasta with sautéed braising mix or escarole. Sprinkle with chopped fresh herbs and/or cheese and enjoy!

Massaged Kale Salad

Prepared and enjoyed by Wellspring farmers this week!

Kale can be tough to eat, unless broken down a bit (i.e cooking, blending or massaging). To enjoy raw kale, it can be massaged to break down the cell wall a bit, making it more tender.

Rip kale into bite sized pieces. Add whatever other salad toppings you enjoy such as chopped dill or lemon balm, carrots, diced radish, sprouts, etc.

Add oil and vinegar, avocado, or any dressing that has oil and massage into the kale for a few minutes until it shrinks to almost half of its original size.

Nancy's favorite dressing to make is avocado, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar and nutritional yeast. This is a savory dressing that is a total crowd pleaser! 

Roasted Garlic Dill Potatoes

Recipe from Wellspring CSA Shareholder, Lisa P.

 

 

 

Cube red potatoes into 1" squares. Toss in EVOO, minced garlic (green or scapes) and fresh snipped dill. Roast at 425 for 25-35 mins, stirring midway through. Delish!

Classic Escarole and Bean Soup 

Wonderful Italian-style dish

Ingredients: 

• 4 thick slices of bacon, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch strips
• 1 head of escarole, coarsely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves-1 minced, 3 crushed (can substitute green garlic or garlic scapes)
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Three 15-ounce cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 cups chicken/ vegetable stock
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Bring a huge pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and five minutes before its cooking time is up, add the broccoli rabe. It will seem like too much for the water, but with a stir or two, the rabe should wilt and cook alongside the pasta. Drain rabe and pasta together and pour into serving bowl. In the same pot or a tiny one, heat the olive oil with the garlic, pepper flakes and Kosher salt over moderate heat, stirring frequently for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the garlic becomes lightly golden. Pour mixture over pasta and toss to evenly coat. Shower with freshly grated cheese and eat at once.

Preserving Herbs in Oil

Tip from a fellow shareholder

Adapted from The Kitchn 

 Steps for Freezing Herbs in Oil

1. Use fresh herbs from CSA box, farmers market or garden
2. If you wish, you can chop them fine. Or leave them in larger sprigs and leaves.
3. Pack the wells of ice cube trays about 2/3 full of herbs.
4. You can mix up the herbs, too; think about freezing a French mix of sage, thyme, and rosemary to add to winter roast chickens and potatoes!
5. Pour extra-virgin olive oil or melted, unsalted butter over the herbs.
6. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and freeze overnight.
7. Remove the frozen cubes and store in freezer containers or small bags.
8. Don't forget to label each container or bag with the type of herb (and oil) inside! 

Drying Herbs

• Tie string around bottom of herb bundle and hang upside down until completely dry (about 2 weeks).
• To prevent dust from accumulating you can wrap herbs in newspaper or brown paper bag.
• Crumble into jars to use throughout the year.